A Talking Picture (2003) Um Filme Falado (original title)

Director:

Manoel de Oliveira

Writer:

Manoel de Oliveira (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

15 October 2003 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | History | War

Plot:

A meditation on civilization. July, 2001: friends wave as a cruise ship departs Lisbon for Mediterranean ports and the Indian Ocean...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Gift | Civilization | Girl | Ocean

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Leonor Silveira	...	Rosa Maria
Filipa de Almeida	...	Maria Joana
John Malkovich	...	Comandante John Walesa
Catherine Deneuve	...	Delfina
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Francesca
Irene Papas	...	Helena
Luís Miguel Cintra	...	Himself - Portuguese Actor
Michel Lubrano di Sbaraglione	...	Pescador
François Da Silva	...	Cliente do Pescador
Nikos Hatzopoulos	...	Padre Ortodoxo
Antònio Ferraiolo	...	Cicerone Pompeia
Alparslan Salt	...	Cicerone Museu de Santa Sophia
Ricardo Trêpa	...	Oficial
David Cardoso	...	Oficial
Júlia Buisel	...	Amiga de Delfina
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ilias Logothetis	...	Orthodox priest (uncredited)
Luís Romão	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Manoel de Oliveira

Writing credits
Manoel de Oliveira		(scenario and dialogue)

Produced by
Paulo Branco	....	producer
Diloy Gülün	....	line producer

Cinematography by
Emmanuel Machuel

Film Editing by
Valérie Loiseleux

Production Design by
Zé Branco

Costume Design by
Isabel Branco

Production Management
Maurizio Antonini	....	line production manager: Italy
Hamid Herraf	....	unit production manager
Paula Oliveira	....	production supervisor
Ana Pinhão	....	unit production manager
Alexandre Valente	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
José Maria Vaz da Silva	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Benoît Iwanesco	....	boom operator
Philippe Morel	....	sound
Ruth Sullivan	....	foley artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Alice Capronnier	....	first assistant camera
José Carlos Loureiro	....	grip

Editorial Department
Cyril Leuthy	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Eagle Bettencourt	....	production assistant
David Bonneville	....	production assistant
Helena Gonçalves	....	production assistant
Luís Hipólito	....	production assistant
Miguel Nogueira	....	assistant: John Malkovich
Nelson Simões	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Madragoa Filmes (co-production)
• Gemini Films (co-production)
• Mikado Film (co-production)
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• Instituto do Cinema, Audiovisual e Multimédia (ICAM) (participation) (as ICAM - Instituto do Cinema, Audiovisual e Multimédia)
• Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) (participation) (as RTP - Radiotelevisão Portuguesa)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation) (as Cine Cinema)
• Eurimages (support)

Distributors

• Alcine Terran (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Nado Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (DVD)
• Nado Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Um Filme Falado" - Portugal (original title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Portugal | France | Italy

Language:

Portuguese | French | Italian | English | Greek

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Company:

Madragoa Filmes

It's greatness lies in the subtlety of its undercurrents

In A Talking Picture, 96-year-old Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira takes us on a journey through history, making us acutely aware of our heritage and, in the process, conveying an acute sense of what we have lost and what we have become. Part travelogue, part comedy, and part drama, the film lulls us into a state of blissful contentment, then hits us with a wake up call that seems culled from yesterday's headlines. On the surface, Oliveira's 36th film is simple, but its greatness lies in the subtlety of its undercurrents. As we travel on a cruise ship to visit some of the most historic landmarks on the planet, bathe in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, and meet some interesting people along the way, Oliveira brings into sharp focus the treacherous nature of the journey in which we are embarked.

Set in July 2001, an attractive history professor from the University of Lisbon, Rosa Maria (Leonor Silveira), takes her seven-year-old daughter Maria Joana (Filipa de Almeida) on a cruise of the Mediterranean from Portugal to Bombay, India where she is planning to meet her husband, an airline pilot. The ship travels from west to east, symbolically depicting the direction in which the balance of the world is shifting. Along the way, they visit the Acropolis and the Parthenon, Mt. Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii, the Sphinx and the Pyramids, and the Hagia Sophia, among others. Rosa Maria, who has lectured about the sites but never visited them before, explains the various sites to her attentive and inquisitive daughter who is constantly asking questions.

The little girl asks questions such as "What is a myth?", "Was there really such a Goddess?", "What is a legend?", "What did people do here?". Her mother does her best to interpret history and myth for her daughter telling her stories about Prince Henry and the legendary Portuguese King Sebastian, the mermaids who swam alongside ships to encourage the sailors to explore the unknown, and the muse that inspired poets. She tells her about the Temple of Apollo and the statue of Athena that protected the city and the stories that accompanied the destruction of Pompeii. Like Maria Joana we are mesmerized by what we see, yet each scene is tinged with such a pervasive air of sadness that it seems to suggest we are getting one last look.

The only transition from port to port is the often-repeated view of the prow of the ship slicing through the calm waters. Along the way, the two meet solitary travelers: an old fisherman in Marseilles whose wife died and whose children moved away, a celibate Orthodox priest at the Acropolis, and an older unmarried actor in Egypt. Rosa and her daughter are the only family with children seen in the film. The second part of the film consists mainly of a dinner conversation between the ship's captain John Walesa (John Malkovich), an American of Polish background and three celebrity passengers: Delphine, a French businesswoman (Catherine Deneuve), Francesca, a former Italian model (Stefania Sandrelli) and Helena, a Greek singer (Irene Papas). In "My Dinner With John", the women discuss their personal lives as well as their views on history, art, politics, and civilization and we are treated to a lovely Greek song sung by Irene Papas.

Each talk in his or her own language yet everyone seems to understand each other perfectly. Soon the suave captain invites the professor and her daughter to join the dinner group and gives the little girl a gift of a Muslim doll with a veil over her face, making us aware of who has not been invited to the table. From here, the film veers in an unpredictable direction that seems inevitable only upon repeated viewing. The camera is static throughout and since the film is driven by ideas rather than story line or character development, the journey at times can be a bit tiresome. Yet A Talking Picture is a lovely film filled with moments of beauty and grace. Like the passage of our own life, it is the totality of the experience that is important, an experience that can only be reflected upon from a distance and weighed in the context of the events that are transforming the civilization and culture we once thought would never change.